Writing in a personal capacity to share views, information and resources for teachers, trade unionists and campaigners in London - and beyond!

Sunday, 14 October 2012

March to defend education on October 20

Stop the onward march of academies and free schools

It’s rumoured that Michael Gove has ‘war charts’ on the walls
of his office plotting the onward march of academy schools.

If true, then Gove must already feel able to label some parts
of the country as ‘conquered territory’. Around half of state-funded secondary
schools have now broken from their elected Local Authorities to become
privatised Academies.

In areas like Bromley, Bexley, Swindon and Darlington,
virtually all secondary schools are now academies. While far fewer primary
schools have academised, their future will also be in doubt once a Local
Authority decides it can’t afford to run education if it has lost most of its
secondaries.

Some schools have chosen to become academies, bribed by
dubious promises of better funding and the chance to use their semi-independent
status to boost their position in the local pecking order of schools. Others
have been forced out for failing to meet the harsh exam targets imposed by
Gove. Yet there is no evidence that academies perform any better than community
schools. Is that any surprise? Since when did privatisation improve public
services?

Where some Academies have improved results, they have done so
by using their control over admissions and exclusions to ‘improve’ their
intake. Who will be left to look after the pupils with the greatest needs in
Gove’s free-for-all education marketplace?

Of course, like in the NHS, privatisation helps those who
help themselves. Academies are being mopped up by growing ‘chains’ of education
businesses like ARK, Harris and AET. They can’t legally make a profit out of
school budgets (yet!), but there are already plenty of lucrative contracts and
management salaries to be secured.

While many academy chains have adopted national pay and conditions,
some already impose longer working hours. But if Gove succeeds with his plans
to atomise national conditions, many Academies will then feel free to do as
they please.

Gove also wants to set up thousands of privatised ‘free
schools’ too. The Tories’ vision is a future without elected councils running
services like schools and housing. Unfortunately, too many Labour councils seem
to be following the same path.

It’s going to be up to the trade union movement and local
communities to defend education from cuts and privatisation. That will certainly
need determined strike action but requires a political battle too - to elect
local councillors that are prepared to fight for public services.

Martin Powell-Davies

* Brought up as a socialist by parents who hungered for what is right * One adopted grandfather left me a double-barrelled name, the other his name on a 1926 General Strike black-list * Joined the Labour Party as a teenager, left it when it abandoned the values and traditions of so many who built it in the past * Given a comprehensive education at St.Andrew's, Leatherhead * First-class degree from King's College, Cambridge, for those who like that kind of thing * Secondary science teacher in London 1986-2015 * Lewisham NUT Secretary 1993-2015, organiser of many campaigns to defend teachers and education * Living in Sydenham since 1997, father of four who were all so well-supported by Sedgehill School * Member of the NUT National Executive 2010-15 * NUT London Regional Secretary 2016 - * Proud to have been name-checked by Gove for saying that his 'reforms' could make teaching unbearable * Member of the CWI, following its global struggles via http://www.socialistworld.net * Candidate for TUSC in Lewisham West & Penge, 2015 * Member of Penge CC, often a 'Middle Aged Man In Lycra' on Sundays